Activision Blizzard has shared an Overwatch 2 deep dive video into Kiriko and her abilities like the teleportation of Swift Step, Healing Ofuda that will prevent her teammates from dying, and a piercing Kunai that acts as her primary attack. Kiriko joins Overwatch 2 with Season 1, a live service-style addition that's to be expected from future seasons of the Activision Blizzard hero shooter.
Overwatch 2 is a seasonal title that includes a battle pass, and Kiriko is among many other rewards that players can progress towards through playing the game as a result of the added leveling system. Kiriko will unlock at tier 55 in the Overwatch 2 battle pass and in order to give Activision Blizzard fans an idea of what to expect from the new hero, a video reveals important details and what her arsenal looks like. Similar to existing Overwatch heroes like Genji and Hanzo, Kiriko is able to climb walls to reach a vantage point, but unlike the aforementioned characters, Kiriko will be spending much of her time healing in matches.
Kiriko is a single-target hybrid healer according to Activision Blizzard, with her Healing Ofuda flying like a projectile toward a targeted teammate like Zenyatta's orbs or a Resurrect from Mercy. Similar to Mercy, Kiriko's Swift Step allows the character to quickly reach an ally that's in danger, but unlike with Mercy, this ability can move the player through walls. Because of her hybrid nature, Kiriko's abilities are split between offensive and support, with the healing of her Ofuda being balanced by some impressive damage caused by her Kunai. Kiriko's ultimate ability is called Kitsune Rush, and it provides nearby Overwatch 2 heroes with buffs to their movements speed, reload speed, attack speed, and cooldown reductions.
Complimenting her Healing Ofuda, Kiriko has a defensive ability called the Protection Suzu which makes all heroes in a specific area immune for a limited time and removes any debuffs. The Overwatch 2 Kiriko breakdown video from Activision Blizzard shows the Protection Suzu being thrown at players that are at risk of dying to a Junkrat ultimate ability and at others that are being hindered by Ana's Biotic Grenade. Unlike the Healing Ofuda which is highlighted by being thrown at damaged characters in a pretty standard way, the Protection Suzu is situational, and Activision Blizzard hinted that it's best used alongside Swift Step.
Like with many of the Jeff Kaplan community updates of the past, several Overwatch 2 fans have expressed enthusiasm for Activision Blizzard's deep dive video for Kiriko that shared similarities to the classic posts.
Overwatch 2 releases on October 4 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.